Tom Rock: Giants made the right call handing the starting QB reins to J.J. McCarthy
Giants quarterback J.J. McCarthy before a game against the New Orleans Saints at MetLife Stadium on Oct 18, 2026. Credit: Brad Penner
Here’s how you can tell that the Giants are making the right decision turning to J.J. McCarthy as their starting quarterback moving forward this season:
At the first team meeting of the week on Wednesday morning John Harbaugh stood in front of the team and didn’t announce it. He didn’t explain it. He didn’t rationalize it. He presented the gameplan and it became obvious to everyone who hadn’t already learned about the switch that McCarthy was taking over for Jameis Winston. No big, official declaration.
Nor was there a need for one.
After everything McCarthy has done as a teammate since he arrived here just three weeks ago in a trade with the Vikings, and especially after the way he performed as the quarterback in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s near-comeback against the Saints, it was – and is – the obvious call. For a head coach with as much experience and as much clout as Harbaugh has, it was an easy one.
That shouldn’t take anything away from him doing it. There are plenty of coaches around the league who would have overthought things, who would have tried to find a softer landing spot for a first start than against the Texans, and who might have taken advantage of next week’s bye as a natural break in which to make this change. Harbaugh didn’t do any of those things. He made up his mind. Why wait?
It’s often said of young quarterbacks – and it may be said about McCarthy, who is still just 23 and in his third NFL season, at some point soon – that making spectacular plays look routine is exciting but making routine plays look routine is the true sign of greatness. Harbaugh did the latter with this.
He would later tell reporters he thought it was “self-evident” this was the right time for the change and that it “made a lot of sense” for the team. He said McCarthy gives the Giants the “best chance to play the best offense we can” and that his “heck of a skillset” will allow them to go back to so many of the concepts they used to stunning success in Week 1 when Jaxson Dart was their undisputed starter. He said there are more plays that tilt toward the identity Harbaugh wants for this team – particularly in the running game – that are “more in J.J.’s world” than they were in Winston’s.
All of that is spot on.
In a best-case scenario, McCarthy will lead the Giants to victories. He will bring them back to the playoffs. He may even deliver more than that, which Harbaugh said remains the goal of this team. The quarterback has changed, the objectives have not. That was true in Week 3 and it’s true heading into Week 7.
If all of that occurs, the Giants will face another quarterback issue entirely. Imagine having McCarthy, Winston, and a potentially healthy Dart in their quarterback room for the start of training camp next July? They’re all under contract for 2027 and the Giants now hold a fifth-year option on McCarthy for 2028 that they will decide upon in the spring. That would certainly present big, difficult decisions for Harbaugh and the organization.
If only. If only. Enjoy the no-brainer in front of you, Giants, and hope it leads to something more challenging in the future.
What does this say about Winston? That he did his job. As the backup quarterback for the Giants he was able to make four starts after Dart’s knee injury and steady a team that could have easily gone keel up. He helped them win two games, brought them back to avoid losing a third that ended in a tie, and then suffered his first and only loss against New Orleans on Sunday. People may smirk and ask why the Giants gave Winston a two-year extension at the start of the season if they are just going to bench him now. The answer is simple: He was signed to be an invaluable backup, not a long-term starter. He can now return to that role in which he excels, the enthusiastic mentor and occasional spot performer. If the Giants need him again due to an injury or other circumstance later this season, they know he’ll be ready. That’s what they signed him for.
As for helping the Giants get back to winning, allowing them to take advantage of this more-than-shaky division, and regaining some of the identity they flashed in the opener but lost early in the next game when Dart was injured, that’s someone else’s job. And McCarthy is ready for that.
His skillset should help every part of the team. He showed an immediate chemistry with Malik Nabers and Isaiah Likely in his brief audition last week. His ability to keep the ball and run with it – which Dart had but Winston does not – will occupy defensive assignments and improve the stagnant rushing attack. And his adeptness at throwing deep passes will uncap an offense that hasn’t had a completion go for more than 49 yards all season.
He throws interceptions. With the Vikings he threw 11 touchdowns against 12 interceptions and already has one with the Giants. Big deal. Who is he replacing again?
McCarthy is not a rookie. The NFL is not new to him. Success is not new to him.
“I believe experience does wonders,” McCarthy said.
Now it’s his chance to do wonders, too.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
